Philip Maddocks: Legislators shocked that a health care system overhaul could cost more than an apple a day

Philip Maddocks

Friday

Jun 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2009 at 12:12 AM

An initial price tag of $1.6 trillion over 10 years for the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal to reshape the U.S. health-care system shocked legislators, many of whom said they had no idea that a plan to overhaul the way the nation’s citizens receive medical treatment would cost more than an apple a day.

An initial price tag of $1.6 trillion over 10 years for the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal to reshape the U.S. health-care system shocked legislators, many of whom said they had no idea that a plan to overhaul the way the nation’s citizens receive medical treatment would cost more than an apple a day.

Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said on Sunday that the panel would consider revisiting its version of health-care legislation and will launch an investigation into the price of apples.

"To say we are aghast would be a shocking understatement," Mr. Grassley said on CNN’s "State of the Union."

Acknowledging that apples might be more valuable than he thought, Mr. Grassley said he still had not been prepared for the trillion-dollar price tag of the Senate Finance Committee’s plan.

"I thought it might be something on the order of the cost of filling up your SUV with premium gas for 10 years, not something on the order of the tax cuts enacted by the Legislature during President George W. Bush’s time in office. So we’re in the position of dialing down some of our expectations to get the costs down."

Asked what might be an acceptable level of expense, Mr. Grassley thought for a moment, and then said, "Well, I paid $6 for this bottle of aspirin, which will last me about a month, depending on how many hours I have to spend in the company of my colleagues, so it would seem irresponsible to me to propose any plan that would cost more than a bottle of aspirin, per person, per month. You do the math, because right now I have a headache."

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina who appeared on ABC’s "This Week," called the CBO’s estimates for the cost of overhauling health care were "a death blow to a government-run health plan."

"We could pay for a vacation to Myrtle Beach, the premier resort destination on the East Coast, for each of our elected legislators for the price of this plan," Mr. Graham said. "It just doesn’t make sense to me, and I don’t think any plan that would be the equivalent of buying vacations for legislatures would make sense to the American people — no matter how well intentioned."

Dianne Feinstein of California joined Republicans in voicing reservations. Ms. Feinstein, who appeared on "State of the Union," said that controlling the cost of a new health-care system "is a very major and difficult subject" and she found it difficult to believe that the country’s health care system could be in any more of a crisis than her home state.

"And it looks like we could fix that with about $25 billion," she said. "We have to start somewhere. And I think it would be easier to convince my colleagues that a healthier California would make for a healthier country. So with $25 billion and a bottle of aspirin for everyone, we could vastly improve the health of this nation at a fraction of the cost of the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal,"

Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, appearing with Ms. Feinstein, said that overhauling California should be done slowly and not this year.

"I think it should be done in incremental steps, in the manner in which the present governor of that state built his career," Mr. Lugar said.

Mr. Lugar also suggested "if we don’t try to fix this state all at once, but do it slowly and do it right" that could free up its governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to fix the health care system, a role, Mr. Lugar said, that Mr. Schwarzenegger "was born for."

"Maybe it will take a weight bench in every home, a cigar-smoking tent on every front lawn, and a "Terminator" movie in every DVD player — but whatever it takes, we’ll pay for it, and it will cost a heckuva lot less than $1.6 trillion." Mr. Lugar said.

Senator John McCain, who is on the health committee, said he couldn’t understand how any health plan could cost more than his run for the presidency.

"We temporarily lost track of our funding, we changed key members on our staff in the heat of battle, and we did it all while riding around the country on a bus. And our campaign still didn’t cost a trillion dollars," Mr. McCain said. "I think there is a lesson in there somewhere for the American people and for our health and I’m going to ask Gov. Schwarzenegger what it is."

Philip Maddocks can be reached at pmaddock@cnc.com.pmaddock@cnc.com.

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